


Letters For The Lost And Found

by midnight_marimba



Series: Valenslimes Day 2020 [10]
Category: Dragon Quest Series, Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Act 2 Spoilers, Act 3 spoilers, Angst, Family, Flutie Tag: breaks glass and slams button labeled "EPISTOLARY FIC", Friendship, Gen, Grief, Healing, Luminerik, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22688944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight_marimba/pseuds/midnight_marimba
Summary: Erik writes a series of letters to reflect on what he’s lost and what he still has, after the Luminary used a magic that nobody understood.Huge late game (Act 2/3) spoilers.
Relationships: Camus | Erik & Mia (Dragon Quest XI), Camus | Erik & Sena | Serena, Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary, Sena | Serena & Mia (Dragon Quest XI)
Series: Valenslimes Day 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631575
Comments: 18
Kudos: 37





	Letters For The Lost And Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Monnom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monnom/gifts).



> For Moinstar (aka Monnom)
> 
> More than a little bit inspired by Moinstar’s lovely [comic](https://moinstar.tumblr.com/post/186677661660/spoiler-ahead-proceed-at-your-own-riskmore). Happy Valenslime’s, Moinstar!

El,

It’s been a day and a half since you disappeared.

I keep imagining you’re going to come back. Mighty Luminary’s job is done, time to come home and be El.

I guess that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why would you want to come back here if you can settle into another life? A better world? I know you thought you were changing everything, too, for everybody. You won’t even know we’re still here, thinking of you. Wherever you are.

The others are saying it’s time to go. I guess we didn’t think that part out real well, that you’re the one we’ve always relied on for transportation. (Of all the reasons to miss you.) We’re going to have to climb out and trek back to town through the mountains. I guess it’s a good thing I never shook the habit of carrying around my thief’s kit, so I have some rope. I think we’re going to want it.

I guess if you did somehow make it back here, you can just teleport yourself back to civilization. I wanted to leave the flute here, too, but Serena says we should ~~keep it safe for the next~~ return it to Arboria.

You’ll probably never see this, but just in case you do, I’m going to leave this note here in the Tower by the door. If you do come back, come find me. Please. I guess I’m going to travel the world with Mia for a while like I planned, but I’ll try to check in with our friends when we’re in the area, so you could find out where I’m going, or I’ll get word from them if you’ve been by. I’ll always be glad to see you, no matter what.

Erik

  


* * *

  


El,

It’s been ten days since you disappeared.

I might stay in Arboria with Serena for a bit. It’s not that far from there to Sniflheim, but I don’t know if I can quite handle seeing Mia yet. I should be happy when I go back to her. She deserves a smile from me.

I am glad of her, of course. Obviously. It’s a miracle that she’s back with us. It’s one of your miracles that both of us are walking around like warm human people.

I’m kind of afraid I won’t be able to look at her without thinking of you.

I’m kind of afraid I won’t be able to look at her without breaking down.

Goddess, I’m a mess. Did you have any idea what I was holding back when you left? Honestly, the only reason I could let you go was that I didn’t think we’d still exist afterwards. Not like this. Not without you. 

Serena’s been sleeping in my tent. Not like that, but. The first night after we climbed out of that valley and went to set up camp without you, I was fine until I set up our tent. My tent. Then I kind of panicked and ran off. I don’t even remember what I said, but Serena came and found me.

“He’s gone,” she said. “He’s gone, and he’s not coming back. We’re never going to see him or Veronica again.”

At first I was stunned. I couldn’t believe Serena would say something that blunt. That harsh. Then I realized she was crying, that she’s at least as broken up about this as I am, and I started crying too, the way I couldn’t quite manage when I was the only one, and we ended up just holding onto each other for a while.

Anyway, she said she didn’t want to share a tent with one of the others, because she didn’t want to worry them or keep them awake if she broke down again, and she really hates sleeping alone ever since she found out about Veronica, so she asked if she could share with me. I said yes.

It helps, a little. Her breathing sounds different than yours. She settles down shoulder to shoulder instead of back to back. She’s not you. But she’s someone who’s feeling some of the same things I’m feeling, and I’m not alone, and it helps, a little.

She told me she’s been writing letters to Veronica, and she asked if I wanted some paper to do the same for you, so here I am. I don’t know how often I can stand to do this, honestly. But I guess maybe it’s better to sit down and do this when it’s a good time for it. Maybe I can work it out of my system, and then I won’t break down in the middle of a crowd like I almost did yesterday, when somebody brought up that time you passed out in the blizzard.

I miss you. I wish you weren’t gone.

Erik

  


* * *

  


El,

It’s been 33 days since you left.

I finally went to see Mia. The gang had dropped in on their way south to let her know that I was fine but I’d be late. I said I had to take care of Serena and make sure she was all right before I left Arboria. It was probably more the other way around, but Serena’s been a good sport and she’s gone along with my story.

Oh, Serena’s coming with us. Me and Mia. Being in Arboria wasn’t doing her any favors, since basically everything and everyone reminded her of Veronica.

Yeah, I know I told you I owed Mia the treasure hunting adventure I promised her, just her and me. And at the time, I did think that was the right choice. I’ve come to the conclusion since then that I was an idiot. I should have just told you I wanted you to come with us. I really did, you know. How much fun would that have been? Me and my two favorite people in the world, just going on an adventure, with nothing and nobody out for our blood, and no stupid destiny dragging us around.

Maybe if I’d told you to come along, you wouldn’t have left. You’d have been excited about the future here. Our future. You’d have known that I really cared about you. Maybe that would have been enough.

Maybe not. Who knows. Not like you talked a lot about your feelings. Maybe I was reading into everything too much. The way you used to sit next to me in front of the campfire and lean your shoulder against mine. The way you spent longer making my gear at your forge than anyone else’s, and then kept asking if I really liked it. The way you hugged me that night after we rescued Mia and I got my memories back, and the way you kept throwing an arm around my shoulders after that, or linking your arm through mine, like you were afraid you might lose me again if you didn’t hold on to me.

I never realized that I needed to be afraid of losing you, instead. Maybe I was wrong that any of it meant anything more to you than friendship, or guilt, or something like that.

Anyway. The three of us caught passage on the first merchant ship we could find, because it’s high time I took Mia out of that frozen wasteland for once in her life. It’s no Salty Stallion, and we paid too much just to huddle together in a corner of the cargo hold at night, but I wanted to be gone, and Mia hasn’t really experienced much better on a ship besides that brief little trip on the Stallion after we first brought her out of that castle, while she was still pretty out of it.

Serena says she doesn’t mind our accommodations, either. It’s probably working better for both of us than when her parents decided I should take Veronica’s bed. We ended up sneaking out and setting up a tent outside of town. All of Arboria probably thinks we’re a couple, now, but whatever. She was already uncomfortable when everyone kept asking when her beloved Luminary was going to come around and marry her, because of the whole reincarnation thing.

And then they’d say how hard it must be for her without Veronica to lead her around, and then when some idiot made a comment about how Serenica’s soul had come back together in her “the way it was meant to be,” she finally lost it. Just clenched her jaw, turned and walked out of town without saying anything. I followed her and watched her launch a huge fireball at the sky, the way I saw Veronica do once after we left Gallopolis and she was ranting about Faris and the Rainbough, only bigger and brighter, because their magic’s come a long way since then, or maybe Serena was just madder.

I told her to wait, and I snuck back into town, went to her parents’ house, and left a note so they hopefully won’t worry too much. Then I picked up our things, went back out to meet her, and we headed toward Sniflheim.

Mia was a little grumpy at first about it not just being her and me, but I think Mia’s reminding Serena of Veronica, the way Veronica used to remind me of Mia. In a mostly good way. And of course Serena’s nicer than I ever was, so she’s just kind of mothering Mia, making sure she eats enough and stays warm and so on.

There’s a part of me that’s a little afraid Mia will think Serena’s better at taking care of her than I ever was, but it’s not like I had a lot to work with, back then, and anyway we didn’t really know what it looked like to live in comfort all the time. I did my best. I guess Mia knows that. She hasn’t gotten mad at me or tried to rub my nose in it.

Oh, yeah. I managed a smile for her when I finally saw her again. I missed her too, after all. I haven’t lost everything I loved. I guess I’m used to making do with half a heart, anyway.

I miss you. Maybe I’m mad at you, too.

Erik

  


* * *

  


El,

It’s been 71 days since you left.

We’re in Hotto now, of all places. I doubt you’d have ever guessed this continent would be my top pick, huh? But we were telling Mia stories on the ship, and she started making fun of me for hating the heat in the desert, and I said, “I’d like to see how you handle it,” and she said, “I bet I can handle it longer than you,” and then Serena mentioned that she’d spotted a creepy door in the back of the Cryptic Crypt that we never went into, and maybe there would be treasure back there, and so we decided to head out there. Through the desert.

That was probably the quietest I’ve ever been, for traveling through the desert. Mia and I both hated it, of course, but we were both too stubborn to say so, not after the challenge we threw at each other, so neither of us commented at all on the weather. The blasted, boiling sun.

I wore the outfit you made for me. The loose fabric, the light color, the bare skin, all of it helps a bit. Of course, it made me think of you the whole time. So I don’t know if it was worth it.

Of course it was worth it. I don’t want to forget you. Sorry.

We survived the desert, stayed a day in Gallopolis to show Mia the market and the horses, and then we kept going, because we knew we’d be there again on the way back to Gondolia. Mia really liked the races. They remind me of you, too, so I mostly just watched Mia watching the races instead.

I’ve never seen her smile so much until we went on this trip. Goddess, now that’s a good feeling. My sister’s back with me and she’s happy.

I think Serena just watched both of us. I don’t know how she’s processing me and Mia these days. If she feels good about being with us, or if watching two siblings together is like probing a sore tooth. She seems okay most of the time. I see her smile at Mia. Sometimes she laughs when Mia and I argue over something silly. Sometimes I can get her to smile when I point out a flower or something. She likes plants.

She’s writing her own letter right now, though. Maybe the Crypt and Hotto weren’t as good of an idea as we all thought they were.

I mean, it wasn’t completely awful. All the monsters are pretty calm these days, no exception for the ones in the Crypt. Serena hates picking on non-aggressive creatures, so we just left everything alone as much as we could. I threw a boomerang as a warning shot for one skeleton-looking thing that tried to follow us, and it clattered off down the hall, no contest. I think Mia was a tiny bit disappointed she didn’t get to see us in action, but I don’t mind not having to fight all the time. It’s a nice change of pace. It’s different from any time I was traveling with you, except at the very end.

And sure enough, we found the door. It was all crusted over with dust and some sort of dried slime that Serena said came from a kind of fungus, but she burned away the worst of it, and then I could get my picks into the lock, and after that we managed to shove the door open with all three of us leaning against it.

It was a great haul. Coins and jewelry and daggers with gems in them. I let Mia keep one for herself, but I told her we’d want to wrap the hilt to hide the gems so it’d be less likely that someone would want to steal it from her. Then Serena gave me this Look. I guess she thought that wasn’t the part I should be warning my little sister about when I let her have a sharp bladed object, but listen, we both were handling knives for kitchen duty when we were a lot younger than Mia is now. She’s not going to be an idiot with it.

We also got Serena to check for magic on everything we found. One stupid curse is plenty for our lifetimes, thanks, so I’m really grateful to have a sage along who can tell if something’s enchanted. We left behind a sword and a shield. Maybe it was some amazing enchantment, I mean, Serena didn’t think it had an evil aura or anything, but I’m just as glad not to test the theory. I know Mia feels the same way. She actually gave Serena a hug after the inspection. I don’t think she’s ever hugged anybody besides me. I might have been almost jealous, but it’s Serena. Even if I wasn’t glad of her company, I owe her my life, and your life, basically everybody’s lives a hundred times over. And after everything, she deserves a hug or twenty.

Which I guess brings us to the bad part. We had to go through the place where we fought that dumb monster, Jar-face or whatever, and all of a sudden Serena stumbled and stopped walking. She bent down and picked up an earring, and I almost said something stupid, like, “Hey, nice find!” Thank the Goddess I looked at her face first.

“This is the place,” she said. “This is the last place where Veronica was the same age as me. This was her earring. She told me they’d fallen out when her age was drained away and her ears went back to not being pierced, but I had forgotten. Do you...do you see the other one anywhere?”

Her voice kind of quavered like she was probably on the verge of crying, and I still don’t know if I should have hugged her, but I don’t think she likes crying in front of Mia, and I didn’t think I could handle being touched at a time like that if it was me, so I just started searching the room instead.

Mia was the one who found the other earring. Serena gave her another hug. When we got back to town, Serena cleaned up the earrings, and now she’s wearing them.

Honestly, being back in Hotto hasn’t been great for me, either. I wanted Mia to try the bath house, so I sent her in with Serena, and Serena said I should go in the other side, too, so I did. Probably a mistake. I kept thinking about the first time we went there, just you and me, and we were both too shy to go in shirtless so we wore the full guest clothes. And then the second time, where all our older companions stripped down to shorts like it was nothing, so we followed suit too, and—

Great, I’m doing it again. I don’t need this. Not now. There’s no you, shirtless or otherwise, so it’s pretty pointless to think about it.

Maybe I can get Serena to play something on her harp. We could both use a distraction. Maybe she’ll play one of the cheery melodies Sylv taught her. She finally worked out how to play an accompaniment instead of just singing it. She’s been teaching Mia and me the words, too, because I never really paid a ton of attention to Sylv back then. Or anyone besides you.

I miss you. I’m kind of annoyed that I do, just at the moment.

Erik

  


* * *

  


El,

It’s been 128 days since you left.

I haven’t written one of these for a while. I guess I’m past the point where I think something’s going to really set me off if I don’t let it out, most of the time. I mean, it’s still not easy, when everywhere we go, someone wants to talk about how they remember you and how you helped them. But it’s more like someone hitting me with uncomfortably warm water, now, instead of scalding.

Once in a while it’s even nice. Like in Gondolia, we ran into the boy we helped to get his voice back, and I think he was happier to see Serena than he would have been to see you. You were an afterthought for him.

Sometimes you’re an afterthought for me, too, these days. I don’t know how to feel about it. Serena says she’s getting to the same place, too, about Veronica, and I think she feels guilty about that. But I can’t see it as a bad thing that she’s smiling more often.

She told me some of her letters are coming out happy. Sometimes she smiles while she’s writing.

I was looking at these other letters I wrote, and I couldn’t get through them. Don’t need that kind of a downer. So I thought I’d do one while I’m not feeling miserable and see how that goes. 

We made it to Puerto Valor yesterday. It’s the first time we’ve visited anyone from the team since Arboria. I think we kind of needed the time away. I remember how it was too hard to look anyone in the face during those days heading back from the Tower. Now, I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing Sylv, and then we did, and it was fine. He hasn’t mentioned you, just talked about how he was happy to see us and then swept us off into his honest-to-Yggdrasil mansion. His dad’s, I guess, but he’s living there right now, too.

He’s kept us occupied, that’s for sure. I guess this is what it means to visit Sylvando while there’s no big mission to take on. I think I’ve eaten more food in the past day than I would eat in a week before I met you. He calmed down a little after Mia got a stomach ache yesterday evening from eating too much, and he told us we’ll have time to try the best of everything as long as we stuck around for at least a few days, although he hopes we’ll stay longer.

After he stuffed us the first time, he took us shopping for swimwear, and we went out to the beach. I never really thought about the ocean as a place to go swimming for fun, even when we went to Lonalulu and Sylv tried to get us to go in then, but Mia got excited about the idea of a beach that was actually warm, and I still have not yet figured out any way to say no to her when she gets that look on her face.

So it was shopping, and swimming, and laying around on the beach. It turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. Mia and Serena got into a water fight until I was half-worried they were going to drown from laughing too hard. I said so to Sylv, and he said, “We’d better save them!” and then he actually picked me up, swung me around, and threw me over their heads into the water. Of course I didn’t actually hit them, because I suppose Sylv knows his acrobatics, after all. I just landed close enough to drench both of them, and then they had to have revenge. On me, for some reason, instead of Sylv.

Okay, I’m not actually mad about that. We all had fun.

Afterwards, he had to round up his minions and show us their current dance routine. Then of course Mia commented about how much fun it looked, so he had to find us costumes and bring us all into his parade for the evening. I felt like a fool putting on those feathers, but Serena said, “I feel a bit ridiculous, but I think it’ll be fun. I’m just glad you’re going to do it with me, Erik,” and then I couldn’t very well back out.

~~I actually did have fun~~

~~Maybe I will burn all these letters~~

Okay, look. I had fun. The parade was fun. I said I was going to write about something happy, and it made me happy, doing that ridiculous thing with the girls and Sylv. Shush, you.

Anyway. Serena and I stuck ourselves in the middle of the crowd, with Sylv dancing along behind us, and his dad up on that monstrosity of a conveyance, because it was a special occasion, I guess. Mia put herself front and center and had the time of her life.

The guys in the parade remembered you, but it was a lot of, “Remember when that adorable young man led the parade? Darling Mia might even have him beat for enthusiasm!”

Maybe I’m glad I never saw you in the parade. I don’t know. It’s kind of nice to be able to make a new memory with it.

We’re going to keep hanging out here for a bit. Sylv’s talking about some kind of week-long festival that’s about to happen, and Mia and Serena are completely sold on it. I don’t know if I can spend that long in a crowd without accidentally picking somebody’s pocket, but I guess it’s about time to prove I’ve broken that habit. Maybe I’ll just carry stuff for the girls so my hands will already be busy.

Not like we’re hurting for cash. We sold the stuff from the Crypt, and we tracked down an old bandit cave on a rumor from Gallopolis that pretty much doubled our resources. I asked Mia if she was tired of treasure hunting yet, and she said no, so we’re going to keep going into the Heliodor area.

It’d be pretty tasteless to loot the actual city ruins, I guess, even though I doubt the rebuilding has gotten too far along, but back in the slums, I used to hear stories about a bunch of old caves and tombs no one’s been in since before the founding of the kingdom. I know roughly where they’re supposed to be, and it’s not a bad area. Very green. The weather ought to be good, this time of year. So even if we don’t actually find any tombs full of treasure, it should be a nice walk.

I guess we should stop by the Bastion. It’d be rude not to, and I kind of do want to see Jade and Hendrik. I kind of don’t want to, too, but it hasn’t gone badly with Sylv, and I guess I should give it a chance. Maybe I can avoid your mum and Gemma. I don’t know if I’d feel worse if they tried to blame me or commiserate with me.

That’s not what you’d want, of course. You’d want us to make friends, cheer each other up. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. You don’t get a say in it, now.

I miss you. But I’m done making my life be about you. I’m ready to let myself be happy.

Erik

  


* * *

  


El,

It’s been 139 days since you left. And maybe 100 days since—

I don’t even know who I’m writing to, right now. Which one of you. I can barely grasp what’s happened.

We found you. We found you in the Last Bastion. Just living there with your mum and Gemma and Jade and Hendrik.

You still don’t like Hendrik yet. I guess I don’t blame you. He was pretty much after your head the last time you saw him, and now he’s suddenly camped out in your hometown, and everybody loves him.

They love you too, but it’s half for things you don’t remember doing.

Okay, let’s say I’m writing to the You-That-Left. In which case, you’re probably as confused as I was. I’m still confused. I’m so confused I actually left your presence to try to sort it out. So, let me lay out what’s happened, as near as I can figure.

You broke the sphere. It sent you somewhere else. But there was already one of you in the place you were going, and maybe it’s against the laws of the universe for there to be two of you in the same timeline, so that other version of you got sent back here. That’s what Serena thinks.

And maybe time travel isn’t very precise. The Timekeeper did warn us that we couldn’t really predict what was going to happen, and there were no guarantees. So the replacement version of you didn’t appear right away after you vanished. He got dumped in the Tower a month after the rest of us left.

Sorry, New El. We never thought of that possibility. Fat lot of good the blasted Timekeeper was to us. Goddess, I’m sorry.

So the new you woke up alone at the Tower, with zero clue what had happened or why. You hadn’t even made it out of Arboria for the first time, yet. You thought it was some kind of weird vision or dream at first, something from the Tree, and you kept waiting for something to happen, or just to wake up.

That didn’t happen, but you found my note. The one I wrote while imagining that you’d come back to us just the same as when you left. That you’d know everything I knew, and that you’d have the teleportation magic to get yourself out of there. If we’d known, we would have left the flute for you, and, I guess, instructions on how to use it.

Okay, if we’d known, I would never have left.

So all you really knew was that we’d all been there at the tower, and we were heading to Arboria, which was, after all, the same place you thought you were supposed to be going. At least you had the Tree for a landmark. At least the Tree was back in the sky by then.

I wonder what you thought of the fact that the monsters weren’t after you every two steps. You must have been glad of it. I’m glad of it. I hate the idea of you having to travel all that way by yourself with no one to watch your back.

You finally made it to Arboria, and instead of all your friends waiting to exclaim, “Where have you been?” you got a bunch of villagers and “Oh hey, you made it back after all! Thanks again for saving the world, bud, and by the way, have you seen Serena?” I guess Serena’s parents cornered you and asked a million questions about her, and then they spilled about Veronica, and that’s how you had to find out, about her and the Tree and how the world got bad before it started to get better.

Of course, we never got around to telling Arboria every little thing about the rest of the world, since they figured they had plenty of time to grill Serena to get a detailed story for their history books, and then we snuck off before that happened. So you didn’t know what happened everywhere else. All you really knew was that the world didn’t need saving anymore.

You didn’t know that Carnelian had been possessed or that Hendrik had joined our side, but you knew something wasn't right about them. So, you being you, you looked around for more potential problems to solve, and that’s the next biggest one you could think of. You set off for Heliodor.

You didn’t know Sylv had anything to do with Puerto Valor. You got off your ship in the area, and you went right on by without stopping.

Heliodor must have been a shock. They’ve got a kind of innhouse and barracks set up just inside the city wall, but that’s about it so far. A lot of the townsfolk that survived ended up settling in at the Bastion, and they’re happy there. Better memories than building on the rubble of the homes they had to flee. Which I guess is kind of ironic for the original residents of Cobblestone.

For you, too.

I don’t know if they’re ever going to rebuild the city to what it was. They might clean up a small section and call it good. Rebuild a bit and then turn the rest of the rubble into a monument. Who knows.

You spied for days. You saw Hendrik and Jade working on building. You saw Hendrik kiss Jade’s hand, which honestly is almost as big a shock to me as it was to you, because sure, you thought they were supposed to be on opposite sides, but I had a chance to get to know the guy a little, and I can barely imagine him working up the nerve to touch a girl’s hand. Shows what I know.

When you saw the two of them heading south, you wondered why, and you followed them from a distance. They outpaced you, but you knew Cobblestone was one of the places they could have been going, and it was a weirder and more worrying idea than anywhere else, given the ruins you remembered finding there, so you headed that way.

And then you found the Last Bastion. You found strangers standing guard who were thrilled to see you and waved you through the gates. You found your mum and your Gemma, who you didn’t even know were alive. You found them sitting down for dinner with Jade and Hendrik, sharing stories about you.

Jade tells me even Hendrik shed a tear after that, which I would have paid money to see.

Not really. I get it, Hendrik. Goddess, do I ever get it.

I know this is unfair to you. I know it must be completely awful in so many ways. You told me a little bit of it yourself, that you now know you were on the brink allowing the world to be destroyed when you got interrupted, and you would have done it if you weren’t stopped. That you don’t know how to feel when everyone keeps being grateful for things you don’t remember doing after that. That you feel helpless because you can’t do anything now to fix the things that Our-Old-You went away to try to fix.

Probably the worst part for you, and Serena, and me, is we don’t still even know if it worked on the other side. If there’s a version of the world where you fixed everything and Veronica lived. If this was worth it to somebody, somewhere.

I think I really might burn this letter later, and maybe the others, too. I don’t want New-You to see what I’ve said, and I definitely don’t want you to stumble across what I’m about to say, but Serena tells me sometimes it’s good to get out the thoughts you don’t want to keep having, so here goes:

I don’t know how to feel about you being here, either. It’s not the version of you that helped me save Mia, or that took care of me when I had amnesia, or that fell asleep with your head on my shoulder sometimes. You’re not quite the person you were when I first thought “I love you” in my head.

Then again. You’re also not the person who left me. You’re not the person who broke my heart.

You still latched on to me when you saw me, like you were afraid of losing me again. And maybe I don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to feel, but Goddess, it felt so good to hold you again. To have you existing here, in my world, in some way. To have a chance to have a future with you in it, after all.

I’m going to have to tell you that I won’t ditch Serena. Just because my wish came half-true and hers didn’t, it doesn’t mean I’m going to forget about her. The opposite, in fact. She’s family, now. I hope you wanted more sisters, because if you keep hanging out with me, you’re going to get them.

But I’m realizing now that there’s no way I’ll abandon you, either. I’m here for you, however long you want me around. I’m sorry this happened to you, but you’ll never have to live with it alone.

I’ll try and tell you all of that before it’s too late, this time.

I’m so glad you’re here.

Erik


End file.
